Putin announced an array of new weapons in March, including the Avangard, in one of his most bellicose speeches in years, saying they could hit almost any point in the world and evade a U.S.-built missile shield.

Putin claimed a new nuclear missile had unlimited range — but it flew only 22 miles in its most successful test yetWASHINGTON — Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Moscow will deploy hypersonic weapons in the “coming months,” a significant step that would enable the Kremlin to surpass the U.S. and China.

A hypersonic weapon can travel at least five times the speed of sound, or about one mile per second. What’s more, the U.S. is currently unable to defend against this breed of threat.